Thoughts on adding Many fish all at once?

[Sdeluca10]

You see all these shows like tanked and what not where they pour water in a tank and add 10-15-20,m-30++ fish. Does anyone have any experience with just completely stocking their tank with what they know they want.
My tank is up and running with 200-300 lbs of live rock from an established tank, I have more than a half dozen corals they’re all thriving, healthy and happy. I have a couple clowns, a few crabs, a pistol shrimp, a yellow goby and a fire fish in the tank theatre all doing perfectly fine.
I have a very good idea of the fish I want to put in the tank, (180 gallons) including a few tangs and I would like to add them all at once to avoid territoriality. Additional to those I know of a few other fish I would like to add to the tang as well.
I’m wondering what the feeling is of making a list of everything I want and ordering it all and having it all added to the tank at the same time, vs adding “here and there”, letting everything become acclimated and added separately.
I have an oversized protein skimmer, excellent filtration and tons of live rock. I’m wondering what everyone things the risk is of just ordering everything I desire for the tank and adding it all at once??

 

[Edward]

Regardless of the size of the tank, amount of filtration and existing micro biome your tank will still need to adjust to the increased bio load. Your current micro biome correlates directly with the bio load your livestock produce. My current tank has an oversized skimmer and 2-3lbs of LR that had been curing for 20+ months. I’m able to add livestock every 2-3 weeks or so without any parameters noticeably changing. Remember, nothing good in this hobby comes fast.

Shows like tanked do what they do temporarily, for show.

 

[PSU4ME]

You def could do it but I’d agree with advising against it. As Edward pointed out, your bacteria matches your tank load (to a point) and it also needs to adjust. If you’re looking to do batches I think you’d be alright, even sizable ones. I like to go shy fish, community, tangs, aggressive. 5-8 fish at a time could be managed in the first two waves. Tangs beware!

 

[kgstei]

I think a lot would depend on how big the fish and on how many fish you are adding. Isn't a product like Dr Tim's supposed to be used for these situations to boost the bacterial levels in the tank? Of course it's a crap shoot throwing all those fish in a tank at one time

 

[Drichards]

That's a lot of fish poop.

 

[JeanR]

There is likely no right answer here. But adding them in thoughtful batches to avoid agression makes good sense. Anyone who talks about tank microbiome with authority is just fooling themselves. No one knows. Dr Tim doesn't know and he is making millions convincing people otherwise. I've added 7-8 fish to my established 120g and never saw even a hint of ill effect.

 

[Edward]

There is likely no right answer here. But adding them in thoughtful batches to avoid agression makes good sense. Anyone who talks about tank microbiome with authority is just fooling themselves. No one knows. Dr Tim doesn't know and he is making millions convincing people otherwise. I've added 7-8 fish to my established 120g and never saw even a hint of ill effect.

As a biochemist and microbiologist that is just a false statement. There is plenty of literature and have been plenty of public experiments showing this is true. Dr.Tim is selling exactly what needs to happen with increasing bioload, increasing the microbiome.

 

[JeanR]

Thanks for your comment @Edward I respect your opinion but disagree. I also have a strong scientific background including a BS in microbiology, and PhD in biochemistry/molecular biology. Have you looked at the literature that Dr. Tim published and bases his whole company on? It's crap that demonstrates nothing. Seriously go look at it. His CV is here with all of his scientific publications: https://www.drtimsaquatics.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Hovanec-Pro-CV-Aug11.pdf
I went through his papers one-by-one and was shocked this could be the basis for a company.

I'm not saying there isn't truth in the microbiome idea, I think there is a lot of truth in it. I'm saying I think there are a lot of people in this hobby talking out of their a** about the tank microbiome and no one knows what is going on.

 

[MikeG]

I have added in batches of 6-8 fish at a time to my current stocking density of roughly 50 fish. This is in a 270g display with about 500 total gallons in the system. I did it this way to not have a bioload that cant be absorbed as everyone is saying but at the same time add all the fish that I feel will be aggressive toward each other at the same time.